Sermon for All Saints Sunday
For All the Saints
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
The Rev. Richard L. Lundin was pastor of my home congregation, Atonement Lutheran Church in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, during my college and seminary years. He was a well-known and beloved preacher – Pastor Lundin had taught preaching at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, now United Lutheran Seminary, and, while he served my home congregation, was still in demand for preaching and teaching. Folks said he had such a fine voice that he could read from the telephone book and people would say “Good sermon, Pastor!” I did not know him well since he was not my pastor as I was growing up and I was away at college by the time he came to serve my home congregation, but Pastor Lundin was always kind to me as a “son” of the congregation preparing for ordained ministry.
Now, it may not surprise you that I was once young and foolish. (Well, okay, some of you may be thinking, the only difference now is age!) Anyway, I was young and foolish, especially in my early 20’s. While I was in seminary in the 1970’s, Pastor Lundin invited me to preach at Atonement for one of the services during Holy Week. The War in Viet Nam was still raging at that time and that week the Christian Century magazine had an editorial stating that Holy Week and Easter were a farce as long as the war in Viet Nam continued. Knowing everything as I did, I decided to preach using that editorial as my theme. Shortly before worship, without telling him what I was going to say, I asked Pastor Lundin what he thought of preaching on that theme. Not knowing that I was about to do just that, Lundin responded honestly that he thought it would be a bad idea, that it would be only be heard as a “hit and run” sermon from an immature seminarian. Ouch! But I did not listen – after all, I was 24 or 25 and thought I knew everything – I preached the sermon anyway.
Then, I left and headed back to seminary in Ohio and left Pastor Lundin to clean up the mess I had made in Pennsylvania. And, indeed, I had created a mess for him to clean up.
That is a pretty good story about my foolish youth, but it is not the purpose for me sharing it with you this morning. What Pastor Lundin did next is my reason for sharing this story. It is also a mark of the kind of man he was and why he is a saint in my life.
What Lundin did was that, a few weeks later, he preached essentially the same sermon that I had, taking any criticism that might have come my way onto himself. My foolishness became his and criticism came his way rather than mine.
That is why the Rev. Richard L. Lundin is a saint in my life.
I thought of Pastor Lundin again this week since we are celebrating All Saints Sunday, a day we remember the “saints” in our lives.
We Lutherans honor at least three groups of saints:
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- Saints who are famous Christians from the past whose lives we can emulate. In this group are saints recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, like St. Francis and Mother Teresa, and others like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Others are our more personal saints, those who have influenced our lives and the lives of others, and now rest with Jesus – our parents, dear friends and many others. People like Pastor Lundin is for me.
- And, for us Lutherans, there is a third group of saints: those who live and work and worship around us, with all of our good and bad points, strengths and weaknesses. Saints with names like Magda and Charlie and Wally and June. We, too, you and I, are saints of God for others and for one another.
What about your life? Who are the saints, living and dead, who have influenced you, especially in your life of faith? They may be famous people you admire or a parent, grandparent, other relative, friend, pastor, Sunday Church School teacher or youth advisor.
Take a few moments to think again of the saints in your life. Not just those who are no longer with us. Think of ALL of the saints in your life – those living and those no longer here in this earth. Think of them. Say a quick prayer of thanksgiving for their influence on your life.
Some years ago I had a privilege of accompanying then ELCA Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson on an ecumenical journey, Presiding Bishop Anderson’s first visit with the Roman Catholic Pope in Rome, the Orthodox Patriarch in Istanbul, and the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury in London. As you can imagine, it was an amazing trip.
While we were in Rome our delegation visited the Catecombe San Calisto outside of the city. There 300,000 people, including early Christians and Christian martyrs from the first to the fourth century, had been buried in now-empty crypts carved out of volcanic rock on four underground levels, each level with rows and rows of tombs stretching high up the wall. Nearly half the tombs were for children.
Surprisingly, it was not a place that was cold or dark or closed-in, but light, even airy, cool and open. We saw the first use of well-known Christian symbols – the fish, the Chi-Rho, the anchor, the dove. We gathered in one tomb and prayed and sang “The Church’s One Foundation.”
As we prayed and sang I was struck again with the thought that we, you and I, exist today only because of our forebears in the faith, those who have gone before us, known and unknown, who now rest with Jesus Christ. It is said that the Christian faith is always just one generation away from extinction, that, unless we tell others about Jesus, our faith will die. Those who came before us and told us of Jesus, they are the saints in and for our lives. They are the saints in our lives along with all those, living and dead, known and unknown who came before us in the faith. They are those we honor today on this All Saints Sunday.
Today, on this All Saints Sunday, let us honor those who hold that special place in our hearts, those saints in our lives, some famous people whose example we try to emulate in our lives and the many not-so-famous, some of whose photos will be shared during today’s service, those we love who are not with us here but are still part of our lives, and those who are with us this day. They are all saints in and for our lives. We are here today because of their lives and faith. On this All Saints Day we remember and give thanks for all the saints in our lives.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
November 1, 2020
